Vlog - Week 1 Weigh In

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Here is my Week 1 Weigh-in...

Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to do some blogs about the fam. This time of year is always very busy as a musician. I have 3 performances this week, a 4 hour dress rehearsal on Saturday, and have already had 3 rehearsals in the last 2 days. Can't...wait...until...Christmas. :)

Jenni's Video Blog - Starting My Journey

So for those in the dark, I've been trying to shed some post pregnancy pounds for the past 2 and 1/2 months with very little success. I will do good for a week...and then gain it back. And the cycle happens a lot.

Part of it is this time of year! I love, love, LOVE to bake around the holidays. And Will can tell how small my self control is when there are goodies in the house.

I might be doing great at working out every day so far, but controlling my cravings for anything pumpkin flavored this time of year? Nah...hasn't happened so much.

So I've been trying to find a way to keep myself motivated and accountable. I've been logging my calories on loseit.com for the past month and a half, but the excitement about that site has started to wear itself thin. I've looked into plenty of other websites from Jillian Michaels, Weight Watchers, to The Biggest Loser Club. It's not that I'm looking for a diet, but I'm just looking for a support group. I don't want to do this alone, because alone, I tend to fall off the wagon.

Well yesterday I found myself on faintstarlite's blog and reading about her successful weight loss journey on WW, and thoroughly enjoyed watching her vlog (video blog) about her journey. She did weekly weigh-ins and vlogged about them.

I couldn't stop thinking about her brilliant idea. All night long I thought about it, and then this morning I thought about it. And I knew that this is what I needed to do. It would keep me accountable, it would help me be able to see myself on camera to remember WHY I need to do this and it would also allow me to go back and see my progress.

So without further adieu, here is my first post, or "VLOG", on my weight loss journey. I'll be doing this weekly.

Preston Funny ~ Snow

Today is Tuesday.

Sunday night, I told Preston that "Tomorrow we get to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house! So you need to be a good sleeper tonight so when you wake up in the morning we can go to G&G's house, okay?"

Sunday night it started to snow, and by Monday morning Seattle was getting a few inches of snow.

When Preston woke up Monday morning, the first thing he said was, "Go to Bramma's house? Go to Bramma's house?" (he said this many, many times...I'm beginning to learn that Preston can now recall things that I tell him the night before, which didn't used to be the case...but he's growing up and retaining more memory!).

Due to the snowstorm, Will and I decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to chance driving in it up to Grandma's house. So I had to tell Preston that we couldn't go to G&G's house because of the snow.

Preston has been very excited about the snow and has already played in it a few times, and so he didn't quite understand why the fun snow would prevent us from going to G&G's house.

So I told him, "We can't go to Grandma's house because the snow is very slippery and it will make our car go CRASH!"

And then he understood.

Later that afternoon, Will needed to go to the post office and asked Preston if he wanted to go with him. Preston looked very confused and worried, and Will told him, "Oh! No, see we're just going to drive a little ways. Don't worry the car won't crash - we're just going a little ways.". The entire time Will was giving me this "look", as if he was concerned that I now planted this insane idea in our 2 year old's head that snow = crashed cars.

Later, after Will and Preston had been gone for quite some time, I decided I should probably call them just to make sure that they were okay.

Will answered the phone and I could tell that they were outside walking.

"Where are you?", I asked curiously.

"We had to park our car up by the Moreland's house because the hill was too slippery and we couldn't make it up, so we're walking home." Will replied.

I watched out the window for them and a few minutes later they came walking down the driveway. Preston was up on Will's shoulders with his mitten covered hands covering Will's ears to keep them warm (Will asked Preston to put his hands over Will's ears).

When they got to the top of the stairs, this is what I found as they walked through the door...

I was trying to take a photo of Preston on Will's shoulders, but instead got a crying Preston because he got snow on his head.

After he settled down, I asked Preston, "What happened? Did you go to the post office with Papa?"

He just looked at me and didn't reply.

So I said, "Did you get to walk in the snow?"

And he said "And then da car go crash!"

I laughed and looked up at Will and he was starting to laugh as well, considering that just a couple of hours ago he was trying to convince Preston that driving in the snow did NOT mean that your car was going to crash.

"So you crashed our car eh?" I asked Will.

"No, I just parked it".

And then Preston kept saying that Papa crashed the car. Haha it was pretty funny.

What We've Been Up To ~ A Picture Blog

Here's what the Thomas Family has been up to lately...

Taylor

Within a week of being put in Command Central Station, he has already been holding his head/neck up stronger, and starting to kick off from his legs, AND been grabbing for the objects/toys on it.

Preston

...has obviously been busy being a boy.

...and making messes of course.

...and learning to go poo-poo on the toilet seat. Tonight in his prayers, he said "Bless car, bless sippy cup, and bless my poopies". LOL that kid cracks us up...

Seattle got a few snowflakes...

Will

...He's been busy being the best Dad in the world to these two boys.

Jenni

I made a nice dinner for my parents and our family. It was our "Thanksgiving" dinner, since we won't be joining them in Oregon.

and I was bored and took a bajillion self portraits with our camera. How fun is that.

The End.

Happy 3 Months Taylor!

I've been trying all day to take a super cute photo of Taylor. He is officially 3 months old today (he was born Aug. 17th) and I wanted to take a stellar 3 month photo.

The problem is that a) he doesn't feel good today (he has a cold), b) he obviously can't sit up on his own and so all of his photos are either of him laying down or in a bouncy chair so one of us had to hold him in order to get a photo of him sitting up and he just did NOT look happy.

So here is he and I. He's got milk spit up coming out of his mouth, and I have no makeup on (we were getting ready to go for a walk).

Again, here he doesn't not look too happy. lol. But look how chunky he's getting! :)

Here is our precious Preston, all decked out in hat, coat, and pajamas. He's ready to go on our stroller ride/walk.

Anyway, Happy 3 months Taylor-man! You are such an easy baby and we love having you part of our family. It's hard to imagine life without you now.

Three months ago, my water broke at 2 a.m. and we went to the hospital. Contractions started but then piddled off after a few hours. I was put on Pitocin around noon and had the max dose allowed (for vbac's) by 4pm. Heavy contractions for 4 hours but no progress. By 9:57 p.m., you came out via C-section and with a good pair of lungs. So cute! And healthy too! You were 8 lbs exactly.

Now, at 3 months, you are 15 pounds.
You no longer can wear any of your newborn clothes, but you wear mostly 3 month sizes, with the occassional too-big 6 month outfit.
You have retained most of your hair so far, which Mommy is particularly glad about. No Grandpa head for you.
Speaking of hair, your hair is still a dark red/Auburn color.
You LOVE to smile at people and you will smile at ANYONE who gives you the tiniest bit of attention.
You laugh when mommy tickles your bare belly and arms.
You love to suck on your hands and fingers, and we have nicknamed you "El Stinkay Hands" because they stink. They really do. No matter how much we wash them.
You have an adorable high pitched squeel.
You are getting very strong.

I love you.

P.S. Preston I love you too. I'll write you a special happy 2 and 1/2 birthday post at Christmas time, June baby. :)

One more Preston Funny

I just remembered another "Preston Funny"....

Sometime in October 2010

Mom is sitting at her computer and Preston climbs up onto the piano and starts to play it. He is being very good, not banging the keys, and paying careful attention to use individual fingers instead of his entire hands or fists.

Then he turns to mom and says, "Momma sing?"

Mom started to make up a song and Preston continued to play the piano, while periodically looking over at mom with a very pleased look on his face.

Preston just performed his first accompaniment to a singer.

Preston Funnies

My dad used to keep a journal when we were little kids, and he would write down all of the funny things that we would say. Later on, when we got older, he would read them to us and we all enjoyed it so much! We got a good laugh, and would respond with "I didn't say that, did I really, Dad?"

As Preston is getting better and better with his vocabulary, he's been saying some of the funniest things. Seems like most evenings Will and I are telling each other "Preston said the funniest thing today..." and relay the stories to each other.

So, since this blog is our family journal, and by the insistance of my Dad (Preston's Brampa), I'm going to try to start writing down some of the funny things that Preston has been doing or saying so that we can remember them from years to come. Let this be the first of many...

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Preston Funnies - (age 2 years, 5 months)

Preston Funny - Saturday, Nov 13th

Mommy, Preston, and Taylor are getting bundled up to go outside on a walk with the double stroller. Mom puts a hat on Preston's head, as well as his jacket and then goes to put her shoes on.

Preston comes up to mommy and says: "Momma fix ear? Ear broken?"

Mommy looks at Preston, confused, and says "Huh?"

Preston: "Ear Broken?"

Momma then figures out that when she put his hat on, it bent both of his ears forward and he wanted her to fix his ears so that they were flat again. :)

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Thursday, Nov 12th, 2010

Preston and Momma are walking up the stairs to the front door and mom is almost to the top, and turns around to make sure Preston is still coming. Preston is climbing the stairs very slowly and making a very exaggerated huffing and puffing sound with his breathing.

This is funny because Mommy had a hard time getting up the stairs when she was pregnant and would go very slowly and huff and puff. Preston apparently thinks this is how you climb stairs.

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End of October 2010:

Mom, Taylor, and Preston were home by themselves one evening while Will was at a scout overnighter. Mom was sitting on the couch feeding Taylor and Preston kept walking by the window, stopping to look at it, and then coming back near mom. He did this several times.

Mom noticed Preston cautiously staring out the window for several minutes, then finally exclaiming "It's not a fish!", in a triumphant tone as if he had finally figured something out.

He was seeing the reflections of the ceiling lights in the window from the inside and must have thought with the dark sky outside and the lights it looked like a fishtank, and he finally figured out that it wasn't really a fish.

Mom said, "It's just a light." And now every time it gets dark, Preston looks a the window and says to us 'It's just a light! It's not scary."

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Saturday night, Nov 13th 2010

Preston is helping Papa take out the garbages (something he does every weekend with Will, it is his special chore). Papa is carrying the big garbage cans, while Preston is carrying the small recycle can that holds paper/cardboard.

When they get down the stairs, Will takes Preston's recycle can and dumps it into the big blue recycle dumpster.

Preston gets very concerned and says, "McQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!"

(Lightning McQueen is Preston's favorite car to play with)

Will looks confused, because Preston thinks his McQueen is in the big blue dumpster. Will and Preston come back up stairs and look all over the house for a good 10 minutes for Lightning McQueen.

Papa goes up to Preston and asks, "Preston, where is your Lightning McQueen?"

Preston: "In da blue box."

Papa: "It's in the big blue garbage can?"

Preston: "Yeah!"

Papa and Preston go back downstairs and Papa proceeds to take everything out of the garbage can one by one.

Later, they come back upstairs and I ask Will, "So did you find Lightning McQueen?" and he says "Yep. He was in the big blue dumpster."

The moral of the story is toddlers don't lie. Toddlers are very smart. If they say something, you should just take their word for it to save yourself a little time.

Pictures of the Week

What do you get when you have no time to blog?
You post pictures! Here are some from this week....

Yes, technically, he's too little to be in an exersaucer, but this is what happens when Dad is in charge of the kids while mom is away. He goes about putting the baby in various mobile objects to see if he's ready. Why do dads always try to push development? Haha.

Oops...head tipping over....

This is a face that is constantly smothered in Mommy's kisses.

And there's that gorgeous smile!

Preston has been going through a phase lately where he requests us to take pictures of all of his toys.

We used to be able to get away with just pretending to push the button on the camera, but he's gotten too smart for us. Now we have to take the photo because he requests to see it afterwards.
Smart boy.

Big green eyes...that used to be blue.

Ah ha! The culprit! Papa!

Oh well, at least he put a blanket in front of Taylor's face so if his head falls forward he won't bonk his face on something hard.

P.S. Taylor actually likes the exersaucer and will stand to be in it anywhere from 5 - 15 minutes at a time. Yesterday he was actually reaching for some of the bright colored objects, which he's never done before. His developmental email from Baby Center said that he should start to try to grab objects now. Looks like he's right on schedule.